1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a blade for corneal surgery which is suitable for separating (incising) a corneal epithelium like a flap and a corneal surgical apparatus comprising the blade.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been known LASIK (Laser in Situ Keratomileusis) for the keratorefractive surgery in which a flap is formed by incising a corneal portion with a thickness of about 0.15 mm ranging from a corneal epithelium to a corneal stroma with a part of the cornea remaining connected like a hinge, ablating the corneal stroma in a refractive correction amount by a laser beam, and returning the flap. In the LASIK, there is used a corneal surgical apparatus called a microkeratome which serves to incise the cornea in a layered form.
In recent years, attention has been paid to a method of LASEK (Laser Epithelial Keratomileusis) in which a corneal epithelium except a hinge is cut in an annular by an epi-trephine, and the corneal epithelium is immersed in alcohol and is swollen, and a flap is formed by separating the corneal epithelium from a Bowan's membrane by means of a golf knife, and a corneal stroma is ablated by a laser beam and the flap into an original position is returned. The LASEK cart also be applied to a thin cornea to which the LASIK cannot be applied.
Furthermore, there has been proposed a method of separating a corneal epithelium by means of a thin wire (a line diameter of approximately 50 μm) to form a flap without using alcohol.
However, the use of the alcohol may damage a cornea and a great deal of time and labor is required for forming a flap by means of a golf knife. Moreover, the tensile strength of the wire is required for forming a flap by means of a wire. If the wire is thickened to increase the strength, it is hard to smoothly separate the corneal epithelium.